Lethrinops stridei "South East Arm"

South East ArmSOWTH EEST ARM (approx.)

The fish

How this cichlid is built, and everything about how it lives, eats and breeds, is shared with the species — this page doesn't repeat it.

Read the full Lethrinops stridei account →

Specific to South East Arm

  • Collection locality & coordinates
  • Local coloration — best judged from the living-fish photo
  • Kept as a single-provenance line, never crossed with other collection points

Care facts below are the species' — shared with Lethrinops stridei.

CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size4.5 in12 cm total length
Temperature73–82 °F23–28 °C
pH7.7–8.6alkaline
Hardness (GH)very hardup to 339 ppm
Depth16–131 ft5–40 m
DietSand-sifting benthic invertivore
BreedingMaternal mouthbroodernot documented for this species; expected modest by genus comparison
Sexual dimorphismYesMales in breeding condition likely more colourful than the plain silvery-bronze females and non-breeding fish; species-specific detail not well documented.
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The South East Arm population

Lethrinops stridei "South East Arm" is the South East Arm population of Lethrinops stridei, a geographic colour form from the Malawi coast of Lake Malawi in the southern part of the lake. It is the same species as Lethrinops stridei, distinguished by its collection locality and local coloration; aquarists keep and breed it as a discrete, provenance-labelled line.

Colour reference: living South East Arm fish at malawi.si

About the species

Lethrinops stridei is a little-documented, deep-water haplochromine cichlid from the southern part of Lake Malawi's South East Arm. Unlike most of its genus — open-water fish that sift sand for buried invertebrates — L. stridei belongs to a small specialised trio, together with Lethrinops microdon and Lethrinops micrentodon, that instead feeds on diatoms settled on the lake floor at depths mostly beyond 50 metres: genuinely deep water by cichlid standards. Its epithet is an eponym whose specific dedication is not confirmed here, a common pattern across Lake Malawi cichlid taxonomy.

Full Lethrinops stridei account →

Sources

  1. malawi.si — Lethrinops stridei "South East Arm"
  2. Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes — species search portal (California Academy of Sciences)
  3. Konings, A. — Malawi Cichlids in their Natural Habitat (Cichlid Press)